Basic Aeronautical Warfare
by CaptainCommunity
Summary: What would happen if Jeff Winger and the study group found themselves on the crew of Serenity? Madness and chaos ensue... An Epic Community/Firefly crossover.
1. Advanced Pilot - part 1

_After the Earth was used up, we found a new solar system and hundreds of new Earths were terra formed and colonized. The central planets formed the Alliance and decided all the planets had to join_

_under their rule. There was some disagreement on that point. After the War, many of the Independents who had fought and lost drifted to the edges of the system, far from Alliance control. Then the crew on Serenity released information revealing the conspiracy on the planet Miranda, a group of cannibals known as Reevers created by the Alliance. Right now, there's another War, the Alliance against the Independence against a new group, known as the New Republic. Out here, people struggle to get by with the most basic technologies; a ship would bring you work, a gun would help you keep it. A captain's goal was simple: find a crew, find a job, keep flying._

The life of Captain Jeffrey Tobias Winger had not been a particularly easy one. Being a member of the Independents during the first War meant he was doomed for a life of constant running from the Alliance and making his earnings from illegal jobs. After the Miranda incident and the formation of the New Republic, work was increasingly harder to find as folk were terrified of the repercussions they would face if caught. Nevertheless, Jeff always managed to find an odd job to feed the starving mouths of his crew and keep his ship, 'Greensails', roaming the Verse. She was a, slightly battered, Firefly model, one that he bought straight after the war, and one he would keep until the day he died. It may be not at the peak of its condition, but it was enough for Captain Jeffrey Winger and his crew.

His crew consisted of his right-hand woman, Britta Perry; the best pilot in the Verse, Troy 'Buttsoup' Barnes (the Buttsoup was a joke that accidentally got put on his permanent record); a mechanic that kept _Greensails_ running, Annie Edison; and despite Jeff's best efforts to make him leave, the rich, controversial, Sir Pierce Hawthorne. The crew had been together for the past 3 years and were now much more of a family than a group of colleagues, although Jeff may have protested that at the time.

The crew were currently jobless, but had been paid enough money from a heist they pulled off earlier in the month. Troy and Jeff had butted heads but had eventually come together to pull of the perfect heist of the CC Committee, a large corporation that had monopolised the production and regulation of weapons for the Alliance's armed forces. They had managed to steal 100,000 platinum, around 40,000 credits. This had been used to upgrade parts of _Greensails_ engine and part had been invested by Pierce in gas shares.

But as rich as they may have been, there was a problem. Annie Edison looked over the slowly rotating engine, scanning it for any pieces that were faulty. Oil flew out from one section and covered Annie's overalls in dark, thick liquid. She undid the tie at the back and carefully stepped out of the material, revealing a bright cardigan and floral skirt, not a typical mechanic's outfit.

"Captain." she called over the hum of the engine. Annie looked around and leant back to see if Jeff was coming. She tried again, sighing as she still got no response. "CAPTAIN." she yelled at the top of her voice. After a moment, she heard footsteps slowly getting louder and Jeff came striding in.

"Annie, I told you to use those walkie talkies I picked up in Jiangyin." the Captain said as he stepped through the doorway. His heavy boots thunked loudly on the floor and his hands rested on his brown, worn out belt. "They cost 30 credits each so we've got to get the best use out of them."

"Milady." he said as he grinned and tipped his cowboy hat towards her. Annie rolled her eyes and gestured towards the engine. Jeff had to bend to get a good look at it, smoothing out his dark blue shirt so it doesn't get too crumpled by his stance.

"What am I looking at?" he asked, after a brief pause.

"You've had this ship for 10 years and you still have no clue what the parts of the engine are." Annie snorted as she shook her head, turning towards him.

"What!" he exclaimed "I thought my job was to do nothing and look pretty."

"Captain!" Annie laughed and turned back to the engine. Her face suddenly fell and she looked up at him. "Please don't get mad. We kind of have a big problem. Remember the new catalyst I asked you to buy last week."

"The one you said we could do without?" Jeff asked, raising his eyebrows at her.

"Well, I might have miscalculated the severity of the situation."

"What are you saying?"

"If we don't land within the next hour, we're going to be stuck in space for probably the rest of our very short lives." Annie replied with increasing pace. She rung her hands through her hair and looked sheepishly up at him, nervous he might yell at her. Jeff scratched at his stubble and took a deep breath.

"Shit." He muttered and Annie nodded her head in agreement. This was not good. "Beaumonde is about forty-five minutes away but I've heard that the Alliance is about to attack it. It could be risky landing there." Jeff turned his head to look back at the engine, pouting slightly.

Annie touched Jeff's arm to get his attention. "Jeff, we have to land soon." This seemed to work as Jeff picked up his walkie-talkie and turned the dial until he reached the right frequency.

"Troy. Change of plans. Turn the ship around, we're heading to Beaumonde." he commanded into the Walkie. It made a funny noise back at him, and the screen went blank. "Gorramit, BUN tyen-shung duh ee-DWAY-RO, it's already dead." he exclaimed "I have used it twice and it's already dead." Jeff threw the walkie on the floor and turned to look at Annie. "30 credits. Wasted. Down the" he begins to say.

"Captain." Annie interrupted, raising her eyebrows and gesturing towards the engine once again.

"Oh yeah right." he scrambled and walked towards the door "TROY, CHANGE OF PLANS. TURN THE SHIP AROUND, WE'RE HEADING TO BEAUMONDE."

:::

Troy 'Buttsoup' Barnes didn't intend to be the pilot of _Greensails_, it just kind of happened. He had been visiting his dad, and his new girlfriend who was only two years older than him, and met Jeff Winger at a bar. Jeff had said he was looking for a pilot for his newly formed crew and Troy had claimed to be one. It wasn't exactly a lie, but Troy knew that his experience from playing video games wasn't the kind Jeff was asking for. But Troy rose to the occasion and found out he was a natural at flying. Since then he has only half-crashed the ship. But that wasn't his fault entirely…

As he was in the process of landing the ship on Beaumonde's landing bay, _Greensail_'s resident warrior/therapist walked into the cockpit. Britta Perry did not look impressed and slumped back into the chair next to Troy's control box, making a point to sigh loudly as she did this. Troy glanced across and, noticing her sullen expression, quickly looks back so as to avoid another Britta rant.

"I'm fine, by the way." Britta snapped but relaxes after seeing Troy's hurt expression "Sorry, I just am annoyed that Jeff's making me move rooms to accommodate for new guests. Notice how it's not him that's moving rooms. Just me."

"I'm sure he didn't realise how upset you would be." Troy said and offers Britta a warm smile.

"Yeah right. I'm sure Franco didn't mean to upset the Spanish people either." Britta retorted "But that's how dictatorship works Troy. Jeff at the top, everyone else at the bottom."

"Of course Jeff would be on top." said a voice from behind the doorway and Pierce Hawthorne stepped through. "You know, because he's gay."

Pierce laughed at his joke, doubling over as he starts wheezing. Troy and Britta just glanced at each other and rolled their eyes. If Pierce wasn't providing the funds for the ship to keep running, there's no doubt he would have been kicked off years ago. Probably the first day he moved in.

As the resident businessman, Pierce owned one of the escape pods and was rarely seen outside of it. The group were definitely not allowed in it, for all they know he could be hiding a secret army in there, or much worse. On occasion the group may be treated to a visit at dinner or a brief conversation when he was heading out, but they are more than pleased with the lack of Pierce on the main ship. Which is why Pierce visiting the cockpit of _Greensails _is so surprising.

"Pierce, to what do we owe the pleasure?" Jeff said, with fake enthusiasm as he stepped onto the flight deck. Annie followed behind him and leant against the desk next to Britta's chair, smiling at Pierce with a half-genuine, half-fake smile which he returned.

"I heard that we were changing course and I was wondering whether I'd have enough time to visit my good friend, Sir Gilbert Lawson." Pierce replied, making sure to emphasise Gilbert's name in an attempt to impress the crew. "I take it you'll need more money to replace whatever the hell is broken this time."

Jeff forced his grimace into a smile, "We could probably make it more of a day trip."

Pierce looked satisfied and walked over to the window to admire the view of Beaumonde, the neon glow of the city already visible through the thick clouds of the upper atmosphere. Once his back was fully turned, Jeff looked towards Annie and mimed slitting his throat, rolling his eyes in the process. Annie silently laughed and shook her head, trying to disguise her own hatred of Pierce. Not that she hated him, more like intensely disliked him at certain times.

"If we're going to make this a day trip, is it cool if we pick up some passengers now instead of next week?" Troy asked keeping his eyes on the window, trying to look around Pierce without having to ask him to leave.

"Sure. Is everything ready?" Jeff replied looking around the crew, his eyes landing on Britta who had returned to her glum state. "Britta have you moved yet?"

"Yes, Boss. Do you want me to clean your shoes next?" Britta retorted, rolling her eyes at him.

"Yeah, actually I would. They're a bit dirty from doing all the tasks you were meant to do today." Jeff snapped back.

"I did my chores, Jeff. You just think I did them wrong." Britta replied, defensively crossing her arms.

"You did do them wrong. Maybe you just have lower standards than me."

"Tell that to the prostitute you slept with last week."

"Guys." Annie shouted over the bickering and Jeff and Britta's heads snapped in her direction both wearing similar guilty looks, "Enough."

"Yeah, at least try to be civil when the guests arrive." Troy said still trying to land the vehicle with Pierce blocking his view.

"Fine." both Britta and Jeff said at the same time and glare at each other before turning away to face opposite sides of the deck. The friendship between Britta and Jeff had always been rocky but ever since the High Society Ball they'd crashed, it had quickly deteriorated into quick retorts and hurtful comments. Of course, the Ball wasn't a popular topic of conversation around _Greensail_ for other obvious reasons. But Jeff didn't need to get into them at that moment.

Troy reached upwards, pulling the nearest lever towards him as they crew fell silent, watching the cityscape.

"And we're here."

:::


	2. Advanced Pilot - part 2

**Thanks for reading the story so far, let me know what you think of it.**

**I'm going to split the story into episodic segments with each split into a few parts. Structurally it will be more like Firefly but with the Community characters. Several will be appearing in the next few parts so look out for any name drops.**

**Thanks again**

:::

Beaumonde, the fifteenth planet orbiting the star Kalisada, was mainly made up of factories and ranches but the crew decided to visit the mega-city, Yealphis. The steady glow of neon lights from billboards and shop signs, wash the city in an artificial glow. People constantly stood packed in large crowds trying to get to their destination amongst the hustle-bustle of general city life. The fog swirled around the roads, and rain fell harshly on umbrellas and the unfortunate pedestrian with no coat. The skyscrapers towered over the tightly-packed streets, advertisements blaring over the downpour but getting lost in the constant buzz of the city.

The crew had decided to split up and seek out their tasks in smaller sub-groups. As soon as they had landed, Pierce had taken off in a taxi to find his friend, Gilbert Lawson, but not before shoving a handful of credits into Jeff's hand and muttering something about 'having to pay for everything'. They watched the old man angrily hail a taxi and shout at the poor driver until he was blue in the face.

Troy and Britta had gone off to find some passengers for the ship and went in the general direction of the nearest pub, the Maidenhead. Jeff just hoped that they wouldn't bring back two drunkards which would be more hassle than they're worth, like the last two sets of passengers they brought back with them. They mostly tended to be travellers just looking for a quick trip to a nearby planet, but occasionally they find someone who had a bit more substance. No one, so far, has quite managed to brave the _Greensail_ crew and last. Not that Jeff wanted anyone else in the crew, they manage quite well already.

With Troy and Britta gone, it just left Jeff and Annie to find the spare part for the engine. Luckily, in a mega-city like Yealphis, you didn't need to walk more than five minutes to find a stall selling spare parts. Finding a catalyst would be easier than finding a good place to eat.

Jeff turned to Annie and nearly burst out laughing at her outfit. She was wearing a transparent mackintosh covering her from head to toe so she looked like someone covered in clingfilm. "You look amazing." he snickered, grinning at her.

She pouted and swatted at his arm. "I wouldn't have to dress like this if you hadn't thrown away my umbrella."

"What." He exclaimed "I thought it was some kind of packaging. You should really think of investing in a better umbrella. Like mine."

Jeff twirled his umbrella, whilst Annie sighed, pulling the hood of her coat further over her head. The rain looked terrifying from under the cover of a nearby shop's eaves and Annie shivered at the thought of it. Jeff reluctantly moved his umbrella between the two of them so it just managed to cover them both. Annie looked up and smiled at him, Jeff pouted back at her.

"If I get wet hair because of this."

:::

Troy and Britta had made their way into Maidenhead, and were enjoying a nice drink at the bar. Troy had gone for the brightest, most colourful cocktail he could find and Britta had opted for a pint of whatever was cheapest. _Alcohol is still alcohol_, Britta thought as she gulped it down. They both scaned the bar for anyone who looked like they would be fit to temporarily join the _Greensail_ crew.

"Mmm, this is delicious." Troy gushed as he sipped on his cocktail, not realising the foam mustache it created on his upper lip. "Are you sure you don't want some, Britta?"

"And conform to the stereotypes of the female gender? Hell no, I'll stick to my beer." She said smacking the bottle on the table. "Seen anyone?"

"No, they all look too normal." Troy replied, "I know the Captain wants someone who'll cause know fuss but they need to have a bit of an adventurer's spirit. It's been boring for a while now."

"I agree. We need some more diversity in this crew. How about Hispanic?" Britta said, looking pleased with herself. She took a long sip of her beer, it had been awhile since they had gotten out of the ship and although she loved travelling, the alcohol reserves had been dwindling. It had mostly been her and Jeff who drank it all, but occasionally the crew would have a couple drinks and play a board game or too.

Lost in her thoughts, Britta almost didn't notice the dark figure sitting in the corner, watching them. "Holy crap Troy. Don't look but I think there's someone stalking us."

"What? Where?" Troy panicked and immediately turned around to face the stalker, hidden amongst shadows. He stood up and walked towards him muttering "If I die, tell my mother I loved her, and don't give my playstation to Jeff."

Troy rolled his head from side to side and cracked his knuckles. He could hear Britta calling his name from the bar but he ignored it and carried on towards the stranger in the corner. He's Troy 'Buttsoup' Barnes, and he's not afraid of no one. But as he got closer to the corner, he could feel the sweat dripping from his hairline and collecting on his eyebrows.

"Can I help you?" he said, his voice trembling slightly.

"I'm looking for someone who can give me a ride somewhere." the stranger's voice was low and husky, with a southern twang. From the close distance, Troy could see the stranger's dark features, mostly covered by a low angled black hat. The candlelight from the table flickered and Troy was almost certain he could see the man's evil grin from under the hat. "Do you know anyone?"

"I…" Troy hesitated. He knew they were meant to be looking for people to ride with them but something about this man creeped him out. "I don't know."

"Because I overheard you and your little friend talking at the bar." he paused and looked up, revealing his strong nose and sharp jawline "And I couldn't help but hear you needed someone to go with you."

"Listen, man." Troy's voice shook as he replied "I'm really sorry but we're very particular about our selection criteria. And my friend really wants someone Hispanic so I'm…"

The stranger took off his hat and cloak and smiled up at him. Troy now saw a familiar figure in a simple t-shirt with a graphic on and slightly curly black hair. "Troy, it's me. Abed."

"Abed?" Troy said, incredulously. "But I thought you were… Your voice was really… I'm really confused right now?"

"I was playing a character. I thought it might be a fun way of spicing things up. My life's got kind of boring lately." Abed replied, still grinning at his friend.

Troy had met Abed ten years before at a convention for video games. They had formed a close friendship during the week at the event, and had spent the week playing as many video games as humanly possible. Abed had won, but that was only because Troy couldn't finish one of them because it was too emotional. After that, they had fallen out of touch and despite Troy's best efforts to contact him again, Abed had remained hidden.

"Are you being serious about the travelling?" Troy asked, still in shock of his friend's reveal. And still a little emotional, because Troy was expecting a fight.

"Yeah. Are you still on _Greensails_?"

"Of course." Troy replied, "I'm so excited, we can share bunks and watch so many…"

"Troy, what's going on?" Britta had been watching from the bar and was wondering why Troy was now hugging and engaged in intense conversation with the mysterious, potentially evil stranger. "Oh my god. Abed?"

"Wait. How do you know Abed?" Troy asked, very confused.

"Troy, you video chatted with this guy every day for two months. You still have his picture framed on the control panel. I think I'd recognise him." Britta said and turned back to Abed. "What are you doing here?"

"Abed wants to come on our ship." Troy replied for him, and leant over to whisper in Britta's ear "I know he's not Hispanic but…"

"Troy, of course I'm going to let Abed come aboard. We don't have any Middle Eastern representation either." Britta says, smiling at Abed. "Welcome aboard."

"Cool. Cool, cool cool." Abed grinned.

:::

Pierce Hawthorne had met Gilbert Lawson when they were both children and Gilbert had worked for his father's company. When his father died and pronounced Pierce as his successor, Gilbert had broken contact with him and disappeared to the nearest planet. Recently they had began to rebuild their relationship after Pierce had decided to share his fortune. Despite Pierce's oblivious insensitivity, he and Gilbert seemed to get on well.

Gilbert Lawson had used his half of the fortune to purchase a large estate just outside of Yealphis. There, the air was cleaner and the noise of the mega city had faded out, replaced by birds chirping and the roar of tractors. The estate was much bigger than any building Pierce owned - Gilbert had invested his money carefully, unlike Pierce who had spent it on a quickly. Luckily, the profits of the Hawthorne-Lawson Wipes Company had been boosted since the partial collapse of the Alliance.

A butler waited by the door, a hand outstretched for Pierce's coat which he promptly took off, muttering something about immigrants. Most people just ignored him at this point but the Butler made a point of glaring at him before opening the grand, oak door.

The inside of the Lawson estate was just as fancy as the outside, maybe even more. Golden chandeliers hung from the ceiling and ornate paintings and sculptures lined the walls. The dark wood panelled floor was covered by a huge rug, and the smell of baking wafted through the open door, leading to the kitchens. Stairs led up to the next floor, which was just as ornate as the first.

Gilbert Lawson stood at the top of the stairs with a warm smile, looking at Pierce fondly.

"Pierce." His voice boomed, "it's been a long time, brother."

"Gilbert. Always a pleasure." Pierce said, making his way up the stairs to greet his old friend with a hug. "How have you been?"

Gilbert smiled at Pierce and gestured to walk with him to a door at the end of the corridor. "I've been well. The business is doing marvellous, much better than expected. I'm sure you've read the reports I sent you."

"I probably scanned them." Pierce grumbled.

"Good. Then you should know all about the upcoming renovations to the five major factories." Gilbert continued to speak over Pierce's badly concealed look of surprise. "We're just going to do basic renovations until it is possible to implement construction to the interior design capsules."

Pierce nodded his head. "Sounds good Gilbert. Do I need to sign anything?"

"Just a few legal forms, although I'm not sure how much they matter following the recent events. Just to be safe, let's go to my office."

They reached a metal door with a large code locking system attached. Gilbert turned to hide his passcode from Pierce's wandering eyes and after a moment the door clicked and swung open. "I never trusted the Alliance's technology." Gilbert complained. "After you."

Gilbert gestured towards the open door and Pierce walked in.

:::


End file.
